In this exquisitely written journal-turned-journey of self-discovery, bestselling author and inimitable Paolo Cognetti examines our universal desire for connection through a voyage in the Himalayas. Why climb a mountain without ever reaching the summit? In 2017, Paolo Cognetti returned to Nepal, not to conquer the mountains but to journey through the high valleys of the Dolpo with a copy of Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard in hand. Drawing on memories of his childhood in the Alps, Cognetti explored the roots of life in the mountains, truly getting to know the communities and the nature that forged this resilient, almost mythical region. 

Accompanying him was Remigio, a childhood friend who had never left the mountains of Italy, and Nicola, a painter he had recently met. Joined by a stalwart team of local sherpas, the trio started out in the remote Dolpo region of Nepal. From there, a journey of self-discovery shaped by illness, human connection, and empathy was born. This is a introspective and stunning read, with such rich and beautiful descriptions of the natural landscape as he treks. It is an engaging, captivating and perfect homage to Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard, and the line illustrations top the whole thing off nicely. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Harvill Secker for an ARC.

Without Ever Reaching The Summit is a slim but evocative book by an Italian author I was wholly unfamiliar with. I was attracted purely by the subject matter as Nepal is a country I have travelled to on numerous occasions and know quite well. I was further intrigued as the journey described is to the Dolpo region of Nepal, a highly mountainous area near the Tibetan border, a part of the country that I've trekked near but never into (not least as it required an expensive permit). Additionally, Cognetti's literary lodestone throughout is Peter Matthiessen's The Snow Leopard - published in 1978 (the year of Cognetti's birth) - and a book I read years ago and enjoyed.

Providing critical commentary on travel writing often seems to me quite tricky, not least as there are perhaps two main potential readership categories. There are those unfamiliar with the place but who read to travel vicariously - something which might become increasingly normalised in our present pandemic times - and those who've been to whichever location and enjoy being reminded of their time there, and perhaps also relish the opportunity to see how true it all rings (or not). Obviously these groups are fairly mutually exclusive!

In the case of Without Ever Reaching The Summit, I fall in the second category and can say that for me at least, Cognetti captures much of what I recollect. The stark, simple translation (by Stash Luckziw) reflects the sparse, unembellished isolation of the landscape; endless dusty mountain ranges, tourist lungs straining at higher altitudes, monasteries perched on rocky outcrops seemingly oblivious to the passage of time. The author's depiction of the people he encounters matched my general memory of unhurried and unfazed locals and overall he does justice to this largely untouched zone in a remarkable country. It offered me an agreeably nostalgic and meditative reflection on life very far removed from Western freneticism.

For a reader who has never been to Nepal, or spent time in a similarly mountainous environment, it's harder for me to comment how the book might land. Certainly it would give a flavour but it's ultimately impossible for me to judge how successful it might be at seducing the reader and I suppose other reviewers might address this.

To conclude, I can certainly see this book being of strong interest to those familiar with The Snow Leopard or anyone who has been to Nepal (or similar).

With thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

Paolo Cognetti is author of The Eight Mountains, one of my one my favourite books ever, so I was really looking forward to reading this book.

‘Without Ever Reaching the Summit” is his account of trekking in Dolpo, an almost liminal space between Nepal and Tibet. The book is written with Cognetti’s distinctive style of introspection and sensitivity with his beautiful descriptions of natural landscape and the profound effect they have on people. If someone had removed all the names and the cover page, I think that I still would have been able to guess that this is Cognetti’s book. My one complaint is that the book is too short!

With thanks to the publisher for the review copy in exchange for my honest and unedited review.

Snow Leopard by Matthiessen is one of my favourite books on so many levels so I had to read this “homage” to it as the author embarks on his own pilgrimage to the Dolpo region following in the footsteps of the original trip. It was great as a reminder about the region, but I would have liked much more detail and the description of the region and trek fleshed out a bit. It’s definitely whetted my appetite to dust off my copy of Snow Leopard to get more of a immersive experience so from that respect it was a success I guess.

In this challenging time my reading taste drifts very much towards travel narrations, one of the reasons I found myself attracted to Paolo Cognetti’s “Without ever reaching the summit – A Himalayan Journey”.
He and two of his closest friends set off when Cognetti turned forty travelling to the remote Himalayan region of Dolpo to walk in Peter Matthiessen’s footsteps.
Dolpo is the closest one can come to the ancient Tibetan culture and life before the Chinese annexation of Tibet, sitting between Tibet and Nepal. Peter Matthiessen travelled to Dolpo in the 1970ties in search of the legendary snow leopard resulting in his famous cult classic “The Snow Leopard”, a book I read with fascination when it came out in 1978. Paolo Cognetti carries it with him like a bible referring to it over and over during their adventure. His excellent 160 page long account of their trek of mules, native guides and friends hiking in unhospitable cold and high altitude of over 5500 meters is a fascinating mixture between literary travel journal, observations of their encounters with people who call Dulpo their home, their ancient religion and harsh yet seemingly happy life, while overcoming his own physical limitations hiking at such high altitude trying to process all the impressions and thoughts surfacing.
His sensitive descriptions of nature in this unusual part of the Himalaya, their attachment to the dog that befriends and travels with them as well as other wildlife encounters had a great calming effect on me while reading. A very special little book.
Paolo Cognetti has a few other bestselling books out in German, fiction and non-fiction.

Paolo Cognetti followed in Peter Matthiessen’s footsteps 40 years after he wrote The Snow Leopard. He treks through Dolpo, a plateau in northwestern Nepal, which rises in places to over 5,000m.

I really enjoyed reading this short book. It’s a thoughtful account of a journey that is now on the tourist trail but he refers back to Matthiessen’s experiences often enough that we quickly realise that not all that much has changed, other than tourist footfall perhaps. His trekking party comprises 47 men and beasts but he manages to wander off on his own, or with his friends, on occasion. The illustrations are simple sketches on the whole but I liked them and they added to the reading experience. His accounts of suffering from altitude sickness are the best I’ve read and I really felt for him on the high passes. I haven’t read The Snow Leopard but I will now. Cognetti could have riddled the book with quotes but he doesn’t. He gives just enough to entice us and to illustrate his own experiences on the journey.

“There was something miraculous about raising my eyes from his diary and finding one by one the things described by him. Forty years .... had passed in the blink of an eye. No discoveries and inventions, no wars, revolutions, youth movements, no collapses of empires and ideologies, no music and literature: nothing that had happened in the course of my life had left a mark there.”

With thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage for a review copy.